Date: Wed, 10 Jan 1996 11:07:29 +0500
From: "Vaux, Lenore"
Subject: AIDS Daily Summary
AIDS Daily Summary
January 10, 1996
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National AIDS
Clearinghouse makes available the following information as a public
service only. Providing this information does not constitute endorsement
by the CDC, the CDC Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction
of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC
Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information.
Copyright 1995, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD
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"Court Orders Firm to Pay Damages in Patent Case"
"In the Loop: GOP Wants $75 Million to Counsel Teens on Sex"
"Nourishing the Body and Soul"
"Procept Initiates New Phase I/II Clinical Trial for PRO 2000 in
HIV-Positive Patients"
"Skating Community Hit Hard by AIDS"
"Case-Control Study of HIV Seroconversion in Health Care Workers
After Percutaneous Exposure to HIV-Infected Blood"
"To Treat or Not to Treat--Approaches to Antiviral Therapy"
"Health-Illness Beliefs and Practices of Haitians with HIV
Disease Living in Boston"
"Pro-Con: Should AIDS Tests Be Mandatory for Pregnant Women?"
"Banned in the U.S.A."
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"Court Orders Firm to Pay Damages in Patent Case"
Wall Street Journal (01/10/96) P. B4
The Massachusetts Bankruptcy Court has ruled that Cambridge
Biotech Corp. may once again sell its HIV-1 Western Blot test,
though the company must pay retroactive damages to the Institut
Pasteur in France. The decision reverses an injunction which
prevented Cambridge Biotech from selling the test, which the
French institute said violated its patent. Cambridge Biotech
must pay a one percent royalty on net sales for the test both in
the future and retroactive to July 7, 1994.
"In the Loop: GOP Wants $75 Million to Counsel Teens on Sex"
Washington Post (01/10/96) P. A15; Kamen, Al
A provision in the GOP's welfare reform bill would provide the
states with $75 million to teach youths "the social,
psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from
sexual activity" until they are married. The "abstinence
education" funds are geared toward "those groups which are most
likely to bear children out-of-wedlock." According to the
federal government, the programs would teach children that
abstinence is the only "certain" method of avoiding pregnancy,
sexually transmitted diseases, and "other associated health
problems." The measure says that "a mutually faithful monogamous
relationship in context of marriage is the expected standard of
human sexual activity," and sexual activity outside of marriage
"is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects."
"Nourishing the Body and Soul"
Washington Post (01/10/96) P. B1; Wilgoren, Debbi
In the aftermath of the blizzard, Monsignor Raymond G. East made
several visits on Monday and Tuesday to people who were unable to
attend church over the weekend. East waded through unshoveled
walks from his Anacostia parish in Washington, D.C., offering
prayers and hugs. On Tuesday, East delivered hot meals as part
of Food and Friends, an organization that brings meals to some
400 people with AIDS. The group was forced to shut down for the
first time ever on Monday, but dozens of volunteers and
four-wheel drive vehicles helped resume service to 250
individuals who said they had no other source of food. In
addition to their regular meal deliveries, the volunteers will
deliver groceries today so the patients will have food in case
inclement weather interrupts service again.
"Procept Initiates New Phase I/II Clinical Trial for PRO 2000 in
HIV-Positive Patients"
Business Wire (01/09/96)
Procept Inc. has been approved to start a new Phase I/II clinical
study that will assess the safety, efficacy, and antiviral
activity of its PRO 2000 for the treatment of HIV-1 infection.
The dose-escalating trial will involve daily bolus injections of
PRO 2000, which has been shown to block the binding of gp120 in
in vitro preclinical tests. The 16-subject trial will be
conducted at Belgium's Saint Pierre University Hospital of The
Free University of Brussels.
"Skating Community Hit Hard by AIDS"
Washington Post (01/07/96) P. A1; Gildea, William
Washington Post writer Christine Brennan's new book, "Inside
Edge: A Revealing Journey into the Secret World of Figure
Skating," shows that AIDS has affected male figure skaters more
than any other athletes and that the epidemic continues to
endanger top U.S. skaters. World champion pair skater Randy
Gardner is quoted as saying, "I could name close to 30 people in
skating who have died from AIDS." The book claims that the U.S.
Figure Skating Association (USFSA) has not responded with
adequate urgency to the disease. The USFSA, however, argues that
it has been actively involved in AIDS-awareness programs in the
past years, and notes that a new nationwide outreach program will
increase the information flow.
"Case-Control Study of HIV Seroconversion in Health Care Workers
After Percutaneous Exposure to HIV-Infected Blood"
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (12/22/95) Vol. 44, No. 50,
P. 929
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with
British and French public health officials, used data from
national surveillance systems in the three countries to assess
the risk factors for health care workers of HIV infection through
work-related exposures to blood. The authors suggest that
characteristics of the exposure and the infected patient, as well
as the use of zidovudine after the exposure, were associated with
a lower risk of HIV transmission. The study included 31 health
care workers who had a documented exposure to HIV-infected blood
at work, through a needlestick or other sharp object, and a
related HIV seroconversion. Their cases were compared to a
control group of 679 health care workers who were exposed to the
virus but showed no seroconversion. Factors associated with
transmission, the researchers said, included a deep injury, blood
visible on the device, procedures involving placing a needle
directly in a vein or artery, and those with a terminally ill
patient. The workers who were infected were also significantly
less likely to use zidovudine.
"To Treat or Not to Treat--Approaches to Antiviral Therapy"
AIDS Clinical Care (01/96) Vol. 8, No. 1, P. 1; Japour, Anthony
This interview with five experts on AIDS therapy, Dr. Robert
Coombs, Dr. Scott Hammer, Dr. Michael Saag, Dr. Charles van der
Horst, and Dr. Deborah Cotton, explores their impressions of the
results from three large clinical trials. The trials--called
ACTG 175, Delta 1 and Delta 2--analyzed the efficacy of treatment
with AZT alone compared to AZT combined with ddI or ddC, and ddI
alone. Coombs said that the "ACTG 175 results are the first
convincing evidence of overall survival benefit with ddI, either
alone or in combination with AZT, compared with AZT alone."
According Hammer, the results suggest that "AZT monotherapy may
no longer be the optimal approach." Van der Horst said the
results show that "treatment outweighs no treatment even very
early," and that he "would treat even patients with CD4 counts
above 500 if their counts were dropping." Cotton observed that
the results show a "modest" benefit of AZT monotherapy, but that
she "would not 'push' therapy in an asymptomatic person." The
experts were next asked about what data they use to determine the
best treatment. Coombs said he uses the patient's CD4 cell count
and clinical status, along with their viral load. Saag said his
decision to treat asymptomatic patients is based on his
"understanding of how the virus causes disease and the
pathogenesis of HIV infection."
"Health-Illness Beliefs and Practices of Haitians with HIV
Disease Living in Boston"
Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (11/95-12/95)
Vol. 6, No. 6, P. 45; Martin, Michele A.; Rissmiller, Patricia;
Beal, Judy A.
Martin et al. conducted interviews and studied the medical
records of nine Haitian men and women to analyze the
health-illness beliefs and practices of Haitians living in Boston
with AIDS. The researchers found that Haitians have a distinct
set of health beliefs and practices which may conflict with those
of modern health care providers. Haitians may credit their
symptoms to biomedical, natural, or supernatural causes. For
example, one woman said her illness was a punishment from God.
"God sends sickness to people who do bad things," she said.
Another said she refused to let a man stay in her house, and that
"this man may have sent the HIV disease to me" for revenge by
black magic. Others believed their condition was a "natural"
illness, caused by environmental forces, like heat, wind or
dampness. Most of the participants said they tried to hide their
disease from friends and family members to avoid rejection. One
participant said his brother and sister "say terrible things to
hurt me since they found out that I have AIDS." All the
participants said they used some kind of spiritual practice to
cope with their illness, usually attending church and praying.
The researchers also found that the participants rarely saw a
medical doctor and that they used traditional healing practices.
"Pro-Con: Should AIDS Tests Be Mandatory for Pregnant Women?"
Health (01/96-02/96) Vol.10, No.1, P. 28; Kuvin, Sanford;
Stryker, Jeff
The AIDS drug AZT can significantly reduce the risk of
maternal-fetal HIV transmission. Federal guidelines state that
any screening of pregnant women should be voluntary, however some
physicians and legislators claim that those rules are not
sufficient. In Health magazine, Dr. Sanford Kuvin, an infectious
disease physician, argues that HIV tests should be required for
pregnant women, because voluntary testing is not effective. He
points out that, in some states, mothers who refuse to take
syphilis and hepatitis B tests are accused of neglect. He also
maintains that mandatory HIV testing is already in place for a
large segment of society--blood donors, military, federal
prisoners, Job Corps applicants, immigrants, and foreign service
employees. But Jeff Stryker, a medical ethicist at the Center
for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California at
San Francisco, contends that HIV tests should not be mandatory
for pregnant women, because a positive test "carries great
stigma," and that women would be less likely to seek prenatal
care just to avoid the test. He notes that during pregnancy,
women are more likely to be open to testing and other health
measures to improve their chances of having a healthy baby.
"Banned in the U.S.A."
POZ (12/95-01/96) P. 40; Archer, Bert
"April Fool's Day," by Australian writer Bryce Courtenay, is the
story of his son Damon's life as a hemophiliac and as a
hemophiliac with AIDS. Courtenay wrote the book after his son
died in 1991. A bestseller in Australia, the U.K., New Zealand
and South Africa, the book has been rejected by U.S. publishers
because, according to Courtenay, "the concept of a heterosexual
getting AIDS is simply unacceptable to their middle American
readers." The book tells of Damon's illness, the AIDS
environment in Australia at the time, and of Courtenay's
progression from a mostly absent father to an AIDS activist.